6 – TAHĀRAT FROM NAJĀSAT

Ibni Ābidīn writes at the beginning of the chapter on Essential Conditions for Salāt (namāz): “There must be no najāsat or impurity on the body, on the clothes of a person making salāt (prayer) or on the place where he prays. A kerchief, a headgear, a skull-cap, a turban, mests and nalins (pattens) are considered clothings. Since the hanging part of a scarf wrapped around one’s neck moves as one moves when performing the namāz, it is included with the clothes, and the namāz will not be accepted if the rest of the cloth is notclean. When those parts where one steps and puts one’s head on the cloth spread on the ground are clean, the namāz will be accepted if the rest of the cloth is not clean. When those parts where one steps and puts one’s head on the cloth spread on the ground are clean, the namāz will be accepted even if there is najāsat on its other parts. For the cloth, unlike the scarf, is not united with the body. A child with clothing smeared with najāsat, a cat, a bird, or a dog salivating from its mouth does not nullify one’s namāz when they sit on one’s lap. For they stay there themselves. But if one holds them on one’s lap, shoulder or so on, one has carried them, and this nullifies one’s namāz. One’s namāz is not nullified by holding a wild animal that does not produce saliva, a clean animal such as a cat, or a child on one’s lap, if their outer parts are clean. For the najāsat in them is contained where it is produced. Likewise, the najāsat and blood of a person who is performing namāz are contained wherein they are produced. So is the case with carrying blooded eggs in one’s pocket. Because the blood in the eggs is encased where it is produced, it does not nullify one’s namāz. But the namāz of a person carrying urine in a closed bottle is not accepted. For the bottle is not the place where the urine is produced. This is also written in Halabī-yi Kebīr. [Hence it is not permissible to perform namāz while one has a closed bottle of blood or tincture of iodine or a closed box containing a bloody handkerchief or a piece of cloth smeared with najāsat equaling more than a dirham (3.365 grams) in one’s pocket.] The places where one’s two feet step and where one puts one’s head must be clean. Even if the cloth on which one prostrates is small, the namāz will be accepted even if its other parts are foul. The namāz performed on cloth, glassware [or nylon] spread or put on najāsat is accepted. There is no harm done if one’s skirt touches some dry najāsat when prostrating. If one raises one of one’s feet because there is najāsat under it and performs the namāz on one foot, the namāz will be accepted if the place where one stands is clean. There are many Islamic scholars who say that the places where the hands and knees are put need

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not be clean. If one prostrates on one’s hand, the place where one puts one’s hand must be clean.

Any solid najāsat on one’s skin or clothes and fluid najāsat such as urine and blood, even if it is on the mests, can be cleaned only by washing. Soil smeared with some fluid najāsat, such as blood, wine [alcoholic liquids], urine, is equated with solid najāsat. When solid najāsat is on a belt, a bag, mests or shoes, it can be cleaned by crumbling, wiping.

Solid or fluid, any najāsat on things not absorbent, but smooth and shining, such as glass, mirrors, bones, nails, knives, painted or varnished furniture, becomes clean when it is rubbed with the hands, soil or any clean thing until it loses three peculiarities (colour, odour, taste). When a bloody knife or a sheep’s head is held over a fire until the blood disappears, it becomes clean.

When any soil on which some najāsat has fallen is dried by the wind and loses its three peculiarities, it becomes pure and one can perform namāz on it. But it cannot be used for tayammum. If any cloth, mat, clothes or one’s skin were on the soil, these will not become clean when they dry. When these are smeared with najāsat, they must be washed before the namāz. Bricks, faience paved on the ground, grass, trees growing in soil, rocks, like soil, become pure when they dry.

When dried semen is rubbed off its place the skin becomes clean. If the semen is wet, or if it is blood, whether wet or dry, the clothes or the skin (on which it is) must be washed. Depending upon the kind of the najāsat and the place smeared with it, there are over thirty different ways of cleaning.

When soap is made from any oil mixed with najāsat or from the oil of a carrion, a foul animal or a pig, it becomes clean. So is the case with all chemical changes. Bread can be baked in an oven that was made with foul water. Things made from najs [foul] earth, such as jugs and jars, become clean when they are taken out of the furnace.

If the qaba najāsat is not as much as one dirham or more on one’s skin or clothes or on the place where one performs the namāz, the namāz will be accepted. But if there is as much as a dirham it is tahrīmī mekrūh and it is wājib to wash it. If it is more than a dirham it is fard to wash it. If it is less than a dirham it is sunnat to wash it. Some scholars say that it is fard to wash away even a drop of wine. According to the other three Madhhabs, it is fard to wash even a mote of any qaba najāsat completely. [In Mālikī Madhhab, according to a

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second report, najāsat is not a problem for performing namāz. Cleaning it is sunnat. It is written in al-Ma’fuwāt that the najāsat left after istinja is allowable in Shāfi’ī Madhhab.] Najāsat is measured according to how much najāsat is on a person when starting to perform the namāz, not when he is smeared with it.

A dirham is a weight of one mithqal, that is, twenty qirat, that is, four grams and eighty centigrams, of solid najāsat. With fluid najāsat it is an area as large as the surface of the water in the palm of one’s open hand. When solid najāsat less than one mithqal is spread over an area larger than the palm of a hand on one’s clothes, it does not nullify the namāz.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF NAJĀSAT:

1 - Qaba (ghalīz) najāsat: All things that necessitate an ablution or ghusl when they issue from the human body, flayed but not tanned skin, flesh, excrement and urine of those animals whose flesh cannot be eaten [except a bat] and of their young; excrement, urine and mouthful vomited matter of a sucking baby; blood of man and of all animals; wine, carrion, pork, excrement of domestic fowls, excrement of pack animals and sheep and goats are ghalīz, that is, qaba. Blood is qaba najāsat in all the four Madhhabs. Semen, mazy and the turbid white, thick liquid called wadī that issues after urination are qaba najāsat in the Hanafī and Mālikī Madhhabs. Only semen is clean is Shafi’ī, and all three of them are clean in Hanbalī.

A cat’s urine, only on one’s clothes; a martyr’s blood, as long as it remains on him; blood that exists in and does not flow out of edible meat, livers, hearts and spleens; blood of fish; excrement and blood of lice, fleas and bed-bugs are all clean. In other words, it is said (by scholars) that namāz can be performed even when one is smeared with a great deal of the above. All intoxicant drinks, like wine, are qaba najāsat. The words of those who say that they are khafīf (light) najāsat are daīf (weak). It is written in Halabī-yi kebīr, Marāq-il-felāh and in the Turkish Ni’met-i islām that raki (spirit) is najāsat-i ghalīza.

2 - Khafīf najāsat: When one-fourth of a limb or a fourth of one’s clothes is smeared with khafīf najāsat, it does not negatively affect the namāz. The urine of edible quadruped animals and the excrement of those birds whose flesh is not edible are khafīf. The excrement of such edible fowls as pigeons and sparrows is clean. Even if a small amount of a mouse’s excrement

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or its urine falls into water or oil, although it has been forgiven, it will be better to clean it. If a small quantity of it gets mixed with wheat and becomes flour, it has been forgiven. With respect to cleaning and making najs when dropped into a liquid, there is no difference between qabā najāsat and khafīf najāsat.

Drops of urine and blood splashing on one’s clothes equalling the point of a pin, drops of mud splashing on one in the streets, steams consisting of najāsat, gases coming on one after they have touched some najāsat, wind or steam that is formed in stables and baths, and drops that are formed on walls are all excusable when they touch one’s clothes or wet skin. Because it is difficult to avoid them, they have been deemed darūrat. But liquid obtained from distilled najāsat is najs. For there is no inevitability in using it. For this reason, raki and spirit (alcohol) are qaba najāsat and, like wine, it is harām to drink them. [The fact that raki and spirit are najs and harām is written in Merāq-il-felāh and in its Tahtāwī annotation. Then when performing namāz, the alcoholic drinks and medicines, such as lotion, spirit and tincture of iodine, which have been used without darūrat, must be cleaned from one’s clothes and skin. Please see chapter 42 in the First Fascicle of Endless Bliss!] Food cooked on a spiritcooker does not become najs.

[It is written at the end of the chapter on Istinjā in Durr-ul-mukhtār: “In a mixture of soil and water, if either of them is clean the mixture, i.e. the mud, becomes clean. The fatwā is likewise.” The same is also written in the fourth rule in Ashbāh. Ibni ’Ābidīn, while explaining Durr-ul-mukhtār, writes: “It is written in Fath-ul-qadīr that most of the ’ulamā (scholars) stated so. It is written in Bezzāziyya that they gave a fatwā accordingly. Imām Muhammad Sheybānī said the same. There are also some ’ulamā who said that the mud becomes najs. According to them, the mixture of clean soil and fertilizer is clean because there is a necessity in it.” As it is stated in Terghīb-us-salāt, [according to some scholars], plaster mixed with dung is considered clean if it is made with clean water and the amount of dung is less than the amount of mud. Please see paragraph 6 in the 69th chapter.

If one of the two substances in a mixture prepared due to some necessity is clean and there is a haraj in using a clean one instead of the najs one, it is understood that, according to the former group of scholars, the mixture will also become clean.

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The medicines with spirit, eau de cologne, varnish, ink or paint are in the same category. It is written in Al-fiqh-u ’alal-madhāhib-il-erba’a and in the Kamżžlż edition of the annotation by Sulaymān bin ’Abdullāh Si’ridī (rahmatullāhi ta’ālā alaihimā) to Al-ma’fuwwāt by mollā Khalīl Si’ridī, 1368 [1949], that the najs liquids used to improve the medicines and perfumes are forgiven in the Shāfi’ī Madhhab. It is written in both of these books and in Endless Bliss II, chapter 1, that it is permissible to follow the daīf (weak) report when there is a haraj. Therefore, in cases of difficulty, it is permissible for Hanafīs and Shāfi’īs to perform namāz with those mixtures on them in excess amounts. It is written at the end of the chapter about Tawakkul[1] that a medicine considered to be clean cannot be taken without a darūrat.]

An ammonia compound formed from ammonia gas issuing from najāsat is clean. If dust and flies land on some najāsat and then leave it and then land on one’s clothes or on water, they do not make them foul.

It is sahīh that the mud that a dog steps on does not become najs. [It is written at the end of the book Al-hadīqa: “If a person’s dress is stained with najāsat and he forgets the site of the stain and washes the part he supposes to be stained, his dress is accepted as cleaned. If a person walks on a najs surface while his feet are wet, his feet do not get najs on condition that the najs surface is dry; but if the surface is wet and his dry feet get wet, they become najs. If the place where a dog has lain in a mosque is dry, that place is not najs; if it is wet yet no trace of najāsat is seen, it is not najs, either. The thawāb for the namāz performed with shoes on is far more blessed than that performed with bare feet. It is the same with shoes worn in the street if no najasat is seen on them. One should not pay attention to doubts. Dresses, carpets, and similar things bought from a seller of alcoholic drinks are accepted as clean. After making a ghusl near others, the bath cloth gets clean by pouring water over it three times without taking it off and wringing it out. Tahārat is essential in everything. Unless it is known for certain that something is stained with najāsat, it cannot be considered najs upon supposition. The meat of animals butchered by Ahl al-kitāb in dār al-harb is regarded as clean unless otherwise proven. Eating the food with meat prepared by Magicians or disbelievers without a holy book is

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[1] Please see the thirty-fifth chapter of the third fascicle of Endless Bliss.

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mekrūh tanzīhī since it is not known for certain that they have butchered it. So is the case with the meat bought from today’s butchers.”]

Najāsat can be cleaned with clean water, with water that has been used for an ablution or a ghusl or with nonviscous liquids, such as vinegar, rose-water, and saliva. It cannot be cleaned with milk or oil.

Water that has been used for an ablution or a ghusl is called musta’mal water. This water is qaba najāsat according to Imām–i a’zam. It is khafīf najāsat according to Abū Yūsuf. And it is clean according to Imām-i Muhammad (rahmatullāhi ta’ālā alaihimā). The fatwā conforms with this final report. Najāsat can be cleaned with it. One cannot make another ablution or ghusl with it. It is mekrūh to drink it or to make dough with it. If it splashes on one’s bath-towel, clothes or into the bath basin, or if any water used for cleaning some najāsat splashes on an area as large as the point of a pin, it does not cause them to be najs [foul]. If water used for cleaning najāsat forms a small pool somewhere, things smeared with that water become najs. If a person without an ablution or without a ghusl, a menstruating woman, a polytheist, or disbeliever dips his or her hand or arm not smeared with najāsat into any water and takes some water or picks up a bowl in it, the water does not become foul in any of the four Madhhabs. If more than half of the water flowing over some najāsat touches the najāsat, the water becomes najs. If a small quantity of the water touches it and if the three peculiarities of the najāsat do not exist in the water, it does not become najs. When najāsat burns its ashes become clean. Bread can be baked in an oven heated by burning dried dung. If a donkey, pig, or any carrion falls into salt and turns into salt, it becomes clean. If dung falls into a well and turns into mud in process of time, it becomes clean. In the Mālikī Madhhab, musta’mal water is both clean itself and can (be used to) clean other things. Hence, musta’mal water can be used for making an ablution or a ghusl. [Manāhij-ul-’ibād]

Grape juice is clean. It becomes najs when it turns into wine. Wine becomes clean when it changes into vinegar. If najāsat splashes on one’s clothes or body and if one cannot find out where that place is, it will become clean if one washes the place that one guesses to be the spot. If one discovers the correct place after namāz, one does not perform the namāz

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again.When a threshing animal urinates on some wheat, if any part of the wheat is washed, given as a present, eaten or sold, the remainder becomes clean.

When any dirt or blood noticed after it has dried up is cleaned away, the place where it was found becomes clean. There is no prescribed number of washings. Once will be enough if it is removed by washing once. If the najāsat is removed existence of a colour and odour is not harmful. It does not need to be washed with hot or soapy water.

Tissue or body dyed with najs dye becomes clean when it is washed three times. It is better to wash it until colourless water drops from it. If najāsat, such as some alcoholic medicine, is syringed under the skin, it will become clean when the syringed spot is washed three times. It is not necessary to raise the skin in order to clean under it. If one’s flesh is smeared with a najs medicine which one has put on one’s skin or wound, or if one has put najs eyesalve on one’s eyes, one does not have to wash one’s flesh or eyes. The outer part, as well as the dried blood remaining on any wound, must be washed away in such a manner so as not to cause any harm. If it will be harmful, it should not be washed. But a person who has najāsat on himself equalling one dirham cannot be an imām. One’s things smeared with invisible najāsats, such as alcohol (spirit) and urine, should be washed in a basin or washing machine with clean water several times until one guesses they have become clean. If they become clean after washing once, it will be enough. The water and other things in the machine will not become najs during the washing. Those who are over-scrupulous and dubious must wash them three times and squeeze the water out after each washing. It is enough for every person to squeeze as hard as he can. Things that cannot be squeezed because they are rotten, thin or big, such as carpets, body, leather that absorbs najāsat, must be dried after each washing. That is, you must wait until the water stops dripping. It is not necessary to dry or squeeze jugs, bowls and copperware that do not absorb najāsat or anything washed in the sea or in a river [in a wash-basin.]

It is written in Halabī: “Najāsat is cleaned with mutlaq water or with muqayyad water[1] or with any clean liquid. If a baby licks its own vomit on a breast or if a person whose hand has been

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[1] Please see chapter 7 for kinds of water.

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smeared with blood or wine licks it and then spits it out, both his hand and his mouth become clean. One’s clothes will not be clean by licking. They must be washed. Each animal’s bile is like its urine. When an animal, except for a pig, or human dies its body, hairs, bones, nerves and teeth do not become najs. It is mekrūh to have one’s hand licked by a cat. When a person with wet pants on breaks wind, the pants do not become najs. When the skin of a carcass is tanned with a chemical that is not najs, it becomes clean. If it is tanned with a najs chemical, such as the oil of a carcass, it will become clean when it is washed and squeezed three times. When an inedible animal is slaughtered as prescribed by the Sharī’at, only its skin is clean. The skin of a pig, a snake or a human will never become clean. A naked person cannot cover himself with the untanned skin of a carcass. Such a skin cannot be sold. Fouled tissue is not so. If a mouse falls into solid fat, the fat touching the mouse must be thrown away. The remaining fat becomes clean. If a mouse falls into fluid oil, all of it becomes najs. When any leather rubbed with najs grease or pig’s grease is washed, it becomes clean.

Among sea animals, those that are not permissible to eat are clean, too. If a camel’s excrement falls into wheat, which is made into flour later on, or if it falls into liquid oil or milk and is taken out later, it is permissible to eat the wheat and drink the oil or milk unless one of the excrement’s three peculiarities is observed in the wheat, oil, or milk. One can perform namāz on the clean side of a foul material. If a person wearing clean shoes, socks and mests performs namāz on a najs place, his namāz will not be accepted. If he takes them off and steps on them, it will be accepted. The case will be the same when their soles are foul.

If a fowl, after being killed, is scalded in boiling water so that its feathers drop off before its abdomen is cut open, it becomes najs. [It is stated on the fourth page of Ebussu’ūd Efendi’s fatwā: “If a fowl is killed by jugulation and then boiled in water before it is eviscerated and then plucked, it is not halāl; it is harām to eat it. If it is killed, boiled after being disembowelled with the insides being washed, it is halāl to eat as long as its feathers have not been smeared with najāsat.” It is written in Radd-ul-muktār: “Only the skin of a fowl not disembowelled becomes najs when it is put in water that is not boiling; if the fowl is washed three times with cold water after being plucked and disembowelled, the entire fowl becomes clean again. Also, the tripe becomes clean when washed three times in

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the same manner.”]

When any meat is boiled in wine or liquor, it becomes najs. It cannot be cleaned by any means. Some Islamic scholars have said that it would become clean when boiled and cooled in clean water three consecutive times. To clean milk, honey or boiled grape juice tainted with najāsat, some water must be mixed with it and the mixture must be boiled until water has evaporated. To clean fluid oil it must be churned with water while the oil on top is skimmed off. Solid fat must be boiled with water and then taken out.

In the Shafi’ī Madhhab, the maytas (carcasses) of animals living on land are najs and likewise, all their parts – their feathers, hairs, bones, and skin – and every bit that comes from them except their eggs are najs. Blood issuing from man and animals living on land, and any kind of intoxicating (alcoholic) drink are najs. In Shafi’ī, the entire body of a pig and a dog is najāsat-i ghalīza, too. Anything that comes into contact with them [while their hairs are wet] becomes najs. That place must be washed seven times to clean. One of the washings should be done with a water-soil mixture. Adding soil into water, it is washed with turbid water; or the thing smeared with najāsat is first dipped into water and then soil is sprinkled onto it and it is washed; or first soil is scattered and then water is poured onto it. It is necessary to remove the najāsat before washing with the water-soil mixture. If the najs place is wet, we should not put the soil onto it first, but wash it using the other two methods. Even if the removal of the najāsat is achieved only after several washings, all of them is considered as one washing. Hence, six more washings including one with soil should be done. Each of the washings done to remove the odor, color or taste is counted separately. Except for the above two animals, it is enough to wash with mutlaq water only once in order to clean away the najāsat. In Shafi’ī, the urine of a suckling boy is khafīf najāsat. After squeezing or drying and thus removing the wetness, we sprinkle water onto it; as a result, it becomes clean even if the water does not flow. The urine of a boy who has eaten something besides milk, even once, or whose age is above two and the urine of a suckling girl should be cleaned only by washing with water.

[Muhammed Maz-har Efendī, one of the scholars of (the city of) Van (in Eastern Turkey), states in Misbāh-un-najāt, “The

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najāsat seen is washed until the three peculiarities signifying its existence are removed and then it is washed once again [with mutlaq water]. Never mind if the signs of najāsat can still be observed slightly. When the najāsat is not visible, pouring water over it once will do. If a container licked by a pig or a dog, or its own hairs licked by itself, touches one’s clothes or other things as it is still wet, these things must be washed six times with clean water and once with muddy water. In Shāfi’ī, tayammum is not permissible before the prayer time comes. Tayammum is made when one is ill or travelling. There should not be any holes on the mests and both of them should be put on at the same time after the ablution is finished. Corpses of all land animals are najs. With the exception of dogs and pigs, their hides become clean after tanning; however, hides of inedible animals do not become clean, and namāz cannot be performed on them.”]

ISTINJĀ

Cleaning one’s front or back after najāsat has issued is called istinjā. Cleaning, that is, tahārat, is not necessary when gas or a stone has issued. Istinjā is sunnat-i muakkada. In other words, after urinating or emptying the bowels in a restroom it is sunnat for a man or woman to clean his or her front or back (private organs) with a stone or with some water so as not to leave any urine or excrement. The number of washings needed has not been prescribed by the sunnat. After cleaning with a stone, it is sunnat to wash again with water. But if one can not make an istinjā with water without opening one’s private parts near others, one gives up the istinjā with water even if a large amount of excrement is left. One does not open one’s private parts, and performs namāz in this state. If one opens them, one will become a sinner who has committed a harām. When one finds a secluded place, one makes istinjā with water and performs the namāz again. The statement: “when there is a darūrat involving relieving oneself or in performing a ghusl a man can open his private parts in the presence of other men and a woman can do it in the presence of other women,” is weak. Under such conditions it is necessary to make a tayammum instead of a ghusl. For Ibni Ābidīn says on the hundred and fourth page: “If doing a commandment will cause you to commit a harām, you must omit the commandment lest you will commit the harām.” [Since a fard is omitted lest you should commit a harām, it will certainly be necessary to omit a sunnat lest you should commit a harām (Ibni Ābidīn page 105).

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It is written in the book Uyūnul-basāir that a sunnat must be omitted even lest one should commit a mekrūh].

It is tahrimī mekrūh to make an istinjā with bones, food, manure, bricks, pieces of pots or glass, coal, animal food, others’ possessions, costly things such as silk, things thrown away from mosques, zamzam water, leaves and paper (excluding toilet paper). Even a blank piece of paper must be respected. It is permissible to make an istinjā with pieces of paper or newspapers containing terrestrial names or writings that have nothing to do with religion. But you must not make an istinjā with any paper containing Islamic letters. It is permissible to clean semen or urine with a piece of cloth and then wash the cloth. A seriously ill person without a husband or wife does not have to make an istinjā. But he has to have someone help him make an ablution. It is mekrūh to urinate or empty the bowels with one’s front or back towards the qibla, standing or naked without any excuse. A ghusl is not permissible at a place where urine has accumulated. It is not permissible to urinate in a place used for making ghusl. But it is permissible if the urine will not accumulate and will flow away. Water used for istinja becomes najs. It must not be allowed to splash on clothes. Therefore, when making an istinjā one must open one’s private parts and do it in a secluded place. Istinjā cannot be made by inserting one’s hand into one’s pants in front of the wash-basin and thereby wash one’s organ by making it touch the water in one’s palm. When smeared with drops of urine, water in one’s palm becomes najs and causes the pants which it drops on to become najs. If the areas which this water drops on amounts to more than the palm’s width, the namāz will not be accepted. If the person, (who has so much urine on his pants) is the imām, others cannot perform namāz behind him. If a person without hands does not have a mahram relative to help him/her to make istinjā (clean him/herself after urination or defecation), (obligation of) istinjā lapses from him (Qādihān).

It is wājib for men to make an istibrā, that is, not to leave any drops in the urethra, by walking, coughing or by lying on their left side. Women do not make an istibrā. One must not make an ablution unless one is satisfied that there are no drops of urine left. One drop oozing out will both nullify the ablution and make one’s underwears dirty. If less than a palmful oozes onto the pants, it is mekrūh for one to make an ablution and perform namāz. If more oozes, the namāz will not be sahih. Those who have difficulty with istibrā must put a cellulosic cotton wick as big

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as a barley seed into the urinary hole. The cotton will absorb the urine oozing out, which will prevent both the ablution from being broken and the pants from getting najs. Only, the end of the cotton must not jut out. If the cotton wick is long and its end remains outside and gets wet with urine, the ablution will break. Shāfi’īs should not put cotton there during the blessed month of Ramadān; it will nullify one’s fast according to the Shāfi’ī Madhhab. When a Hanafī Muslim imitating the Shāfi’ī Madhhab in ablution and namāz uses the cotton wick likewise, it will not nullify his fast. With old and invalid people, the organ becomes smaller and the piece of cloth wound around it becomes loose. A person with this problem puts a piece of cloth as large as a handkerchief in a small nylon bag and places the organ and the testicles in the bag. He ties the mouth of the bag. If the amount of the urine dripping onto the cloth is more than one dirham, the cloth must be replaced before making an ablution. If a person who cannot control his urine but who does not have an excuse notices wetness on the piece of cloth that he tied clean, and if he does not know when the urine oozed, it must be accepted that it oozed at the moment he noticed it, like in the example of the blood of haid, dealt with in the fourth chapter. A person who feels doubt checks the cloth before starting to perform namāz. If he sees wetness he makes a new ablution. If he feels doubt during namāz, he checks as soons as he makes the salām and, if he sees drops, he performs the namāz again. If he sees wetness one or two minutes after the salām, it will be concluded that he has performed the namāz with an ablution]. After istibrā, istinjā is made. After istinjā with water, the organ is wiped dry with a piece of cloth. Every woman must always put kursuf (some cotton or cloth) on her front [see chapter 4].

[The fact that those who suffer from enuresis or oozing blood, and those who have difficulty in purifying themselves of najāsat should imitate the Mālikī Madhhab is written in the annotation of al- Ma’fuwāt. It is written in the book Al-fiqh-u-alal-madhāhib-il-erba’a, “In the Mālikī Madhhab, urine, semen, mazī, wadī, blood of istihāda (flux of blood from a woman other than catamenia and lochia), excrement or wind issuing from a healthy person breaks an ablution. Yet it will not be broken when the body emits stones, worms, pus, yellowish liquid or blood through the anus or any other part. When those things emission of which would normally break the ablution issue because of some illness and it cannot be prevented,

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one of the following two inferences (ijtihāds) is to be followed: According to the first inference, involuntary urination that goes on for more than half of the period of time prescribed for a certain prayer of namāz, when it is not known when it (the urination) started, does not break an ablution. According to the second inference, it does not break the invalid’s ablution anyway, not even in the absence of the three conditions. It is mustahab for him to make an ablution when the urination stops. When sick or old people have difficulty making ablution, it will be acceptable for them to follow this second inference. If it is known when the urination stops, it is preferrable for the person concerned to make an ablution then. Those Hanafīs and Shāfi’īs who have to wait too long for istibrā or whose urine goes on dropping afterwards and who cannot be excusable because their involuntary urination does not continue as long as a period allotted for a namāz, must imitate the Mālikī Madhhab. Ibni Ābidīn says in the subject about Talāq-i-rij’ī, “Our scholars gave their fatwā in accordance with the Mālikī Madhhab in case of a darūrat. If a matter has not been explained in the Hanafī Madhhab, the Mālikī Madhhab must be imitated.” The skin on the ears is included in the area of the head. It is fard to make masah on them. It is not written in Hanafī books that this part of the skin is included in the area of the face and must be washed. It breaks the ablution to touch lustfully the skin or hair of a woman who is permissible for one to marry.[1] In ghusl, it is sunnat, not fard, to wash (inside) the mouth and the nose. A tayammum is necessary for each prayer time. The dog is not foul, nor is the pig. However, it is harām to eat their meat. Blood is foul, even if it is that of a fish. Tahārat from najāsat is fard according to one inference, and sunnat according to another. Drops from haemorrhoids and drops of urine and excrement on one’s underwears are forgiven. Human and animal blood and pus from an abscess or wound are forgiven when they cover an area as large as (and no more than) the palm of a hand. It is fard to recite the Fātiha (sūra) in every rak’at of the namāz and to remain motionless for a while (which is called tumānīnat) after the rukū’ and between the two sajdas. In rak’ats where the imām says the (prescribed) sūras silently, it is mustahab for the jamā’at to say the Fātiha; and where

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[1] The wife is no exception from this rule.

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the imām recites the sūras aloud, it is mekrūh for the jamā’at to say the Fātiha. At qiyām (standing position in namāz), it is mustahab to place both hands on somewhere between the chest and the navel, the right hand on the left hand, or to let them hang down on both sides. It is mekrūh to say the ‘A’ūdhu...’ in prayers of namāz that are fard. Finishing the (recital of) Fātiha after (having begun) the rukū’ will nullify the namāz.”

Second edition of the Mālikī book of fiqh Az-Zahīra li-l Qurāfī was printed in Egypt in 1402 [A.D. 1982]. It says, “Imām-i-Mālik said that it is wājib for the awām (common people, laymen) to imitate the mujtahids. The (four) Madhhabs are ways leading to Paradise. He who follows any one of them will attain Paradise.”

Last edition of the book Al-mudawwana, which consists of narrations coming from Imām-i-Mālik through Ibn ul-Qāsim ‘radiy-allāhu anhumā’, was printed in Beirut. It is written in this book, “When a woman’s palm touches her genital organ, her ablution is not broken. If mazī oozes because of cold or illness, the ablution is not broken. Yet if it oozes as a result of a lustful thought, it will be broken. If blood of istihazā or urine oozes, the ablution is not broken; yet in this case it is mustahab to make an ablution for each prayer of namāz. Khilāl of the beard (combing the beard with fingers) is not made during the ablution. One should not perform namāz behind (an imām who is) a holder of bid’at (a heretical or aberrant belief or conduct).” It is fard to wash (the skin) under eye-brows and eye-lashes, and also under the beard if their hairs are scarce, and to wash the part of the beard which is thickly haired. It is mustahab to probe between the toes (by using the small finger). It is permissible to dry oneself after the ablution. Seven actions are fard (compulsory) in an ablution, and five are fard in a ghusl. In case of such fears as losing one’s life or property or becoming ill or one’s illness becoming worse or one’s healing being delayed, it is permissible to make a tayammum. If one cannot find a Muslim doctor, one will have to trust a doctor who is a disbeliever or (others’) experiences]. When something washed with the hands become clean, the hands become clean, too.

It says in the subject concerning using gold and silver in the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtār that men’s dealing with one another is called Mu’āmalāt. In mu’āmalāt, a sinner’s or a disbeliever’s word is to be accepted. A sane child and a woman are like men (in this respect). If one of them says, “I have bought this meat from a disbeliever with a holy book,” the

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meat will be halāl to eat. [For, formerly meat was sold by the person who had butchered the animal]. One’s property does not become invalidated by one person’s word. If a Muslim buys some meat and another devoted Muslim says that the animal (to which the meat belongs) was killed by a disbeliever without a holy book, the meat cannot be returned to the seller; the buyer has to pay for it. For, since he bought the meat without knowing that it belonged to a carrion, it has become his property. Information to invalidate property has to be given by two men or by one man plus two women.There are three kinds of mu’āmalāt. The first kind comprises dealings that neither party has to fulfil. Examples of this are being a deputy, being a mudārib (one of the partners in a kind of joint-ownership), and being granted (by a person to do something on his behalf). The second kind consists of dealings that both parties have to fulfil. Examples of this are the rights that can be subjects for law-suits. The third kind includes dealings that one of the parties has to fulfil while the other party does not have to fulfil. In this kind are dismissing a deputy and withdrawing the permission one granted to another person. In this case the deputy and the granted person can no longer act on behalf of the person they are representing. But the person who takes back his permission or authority from his deputy is free to use his own rights. We have already explained the first one. In the second, the informers must have the conditions prescribed by Islam for witnesses. In the third, the number of the informers and whether they have the quality of fairness will be taken into consideration.

Matters between Allahu ta’ālā and man are called Diyānāt. In diyānāt, the word of an ‘ādil[1] Muslim who has reached the age of puberty will be trusted. A woman is like a man in this respect. If he (or she) says, “This water is najs,” one cannot make an ablution with the water. One must make a tayammum. If a sinful Muslim or a Muslim whose conduct is not known for certain says so one inquires about it personally and acts upon one’s own assurance. If a disbeliever or a child says that the water is najs and if one believes it, one must pour the water away and then make a tayammum. In giving a present or a permission, a child’s word can be accepted. When a child says, “Come in, please,” one can enter the place. But whether a child is permitted to buy something depends upon the seller’s conviction.

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[1] Terms such as ‘ādil and fāsiq are explained in chapter 10.

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In diyānāt, information that will invalidate one’s property must be given by two men or one man plus two women. For example, if a just Muslim says, “This man and wife are foster brother and sister,” it will not be admitted, and the nikāh (marriage as prescribed by Islam) will not be cancelled.

Ibni ’Ābidīn says at the end of the chapter about istinjā: “If a just person says that some meat is carrion, e.g., “a murtad killed it,” and another just person says that it is not carrion, e.g., “a Muslim killed it,” it will be judged as carrion. If the former says that some water or any sort of sherbet or any food is najs and the latter says that it is not najs, it will be taken as clean. If there are several informers, the majority’s consensus will be accepted. If clean and najs clothes come together and the clean ones are in the minority, or a number of pots are together and the clean ones are in the majority, one should search for the clean ones and use the ones one supposes to be clean. If the clean pots are equal or fewer in number, all of them will be taken as najs.